Use the Summary area below to collaborate with your group to create your summary of the connections between white privilege, the colorblind perspective, and social dominance theory.
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Note: You don't need to sign your work or indicate which sections you contributed; your facilitator can see your contributions in the history of the page. Your group summary should demonstrate your collaboration rather than being a collection of unconnected individual ideas. When your group decides that the summary is finished, have one group member remove "(Draft)" below so your facilitator will know that it is ready for review.
Summary
Collaborative Summary: Connections between White Privilege, the Colorblind Perspective, and Social Dominance Theory
by Group E
Social Dominance Theory focuses on a set of "legitimizing myths" (Sidanius & Pratto, 1993) that help perpetuate the idea that the dominant race is "made" to have privilege. It legitimizes the privileges that group has and thus creates a color blind attitude amongst its members. As seen in McIntosh's list of daily effects of white privilege, we see that the dominant group could not previously "see" how their lives have been legitimized by an unfair system. This colorblindness perpetuates the dominance because it refuses to address the disadvantages it creates for those not in the dominant culture.
White privilege, colorblindness, and the social dominance theory are all interlocked. White privilege is the result of the social dominance of the white culture. The privileges are a result of White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant beliefs being considered "normal or correct." As Stanley Fish pointed out, there is no level playing field - the subjugation of minorities and the legalized discrimination has been going on for a long time, and we as a people, are just immune to it. We don't consider all of the things our White culture still does to covertly and discreetly oppress others such as the flesh-colored bandages, lack of picture books, greeting cards, etc. for minorities. All of these articles speak to the social dominance theory's premises that we are motivated by White privilege, and we are color blind because we are afraid to conduct meaningful dialogue about cultural differences with the less dominant cultures. Until we do that, we are doomed to go on as we are.
IMPACTING STATEMENTS ILLUSTRATING WHITE PRIVILEGE AND COLOR BLINDNESS
I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.
I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.
I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to “ the person in charge,” I will be facing a person of my race.
I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help my race will not work against me.
I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.
All of these five that we have chosen stand out because they are things we take for granted as being part of the dominant culture. It is part of our path to become more aware of the world around us, and the various ways our culture perpetuates racism. The ignorance we had about the majority of this list is a testament to how invisible and pervasive our white culture has been in our lives. We feel the connections between white privilege, the colorblind perspective, and social dominance theory are a combination of cause and effect. We believe the colorblind perspective lends itself to ignorance of one's own whiteness, which feed into the justification of white privilege, and therefore is a component of social dominance theory in that it becomes an aggregated effect of individual discrimination that leads to institutionalized injustices.
Home > Activity 4-A-3: White Privilege > Group E
Instructions:
Note:
You don't need to sign your work or indicate which sections you contributed; your facilitator can see your contributions in the history of the page. Your group summary should demonstrate your collaboration rather than being a collection of unconnected individual ideas. When your group decides that the summary is finished, have one group member remove "(Draft)" below so your facilitator will know that it is ready for review.
Summary
Collaborative Summary: Connections between White Privilege, the Colorblind Perspective, and Social Dominance Theory
by Group E
Social Dominance Theory focuses on a set of "legitimizing myths" (Sidanius & Pratto, 1993) that help perpetuate the idea that the dominant race is "made" to have privilege. It legitimizes the privileges that group has and thus creates a color blind attitude amongst its members. As seen in McIntosh's list of daily effects of white privilege, we see that the dominant group could not previously "see" how their lives have been legitimized by an unfair system. This colorblindness perpetuates the dominance because it refuses to address the disadvantages it creates for those not in the dominant culture.
White privilege, colorblindness, and the social dominance theory are all interlocked. White privilege is the result of the social dominance of the white culture. The privileges are a result of White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant beliefs being considered "normal or correct." As Stanley Fish pointed out, there is no level playing field - the subjugation of minorities and the legalized discrimination has been going on for a long time, and we as a people, are just immune to it. We don't consider all of the things our White culture still does to covertly and discreetly oppress others such as the flesh-colored bandages, lack of picture books, greeting cards, etc. for minorities. All of these articles speak to the social dominance theory's premises that we are motivated by White privilege, and we are color blind because we are afraid to conduct meaningful dialogue about cultural differences with the less dominant cultures. Until we do that, we are doomed to go on as we are.
IMPACTING STATEMENTS ILLUSTRATING WHITE PRIVILEGE AND COLOR BLINDNESS
All of these five that we have chosen stand out because they are things we take for granted as being part of the dominant culture. It is part of our path to become more aware of the world around us, and the various ways our culture perpetuates racism. The ignorance we had about the majority of this list is a testament to how invisible and pervasive our white culture has been in our lives. We feel the connections between white privilege, the colorblind perspective, and social dominance theory are a combination of cause and effect. We believe the colorblind perspective lends itself to ignorance of one's own whiteness, which feed into the justification of white privilege, and therefore is a component of social dominance theory in that it becomes an aggregated effect of individual discrimination that leads to institutionalized injustices.